Jack Benny would have been perfect in this.

I've seen this masterpiece at least ten times now, and it's become a Halloween tradition. After more than 70 years, it still comes off fresh as a daisy, and Frank Capra's comical know-how and timing really comes through. However, as some posters discussed years ago, before many posts on this movie strangely disappeared, Cary Grant is just too uptight and his galloping hysteria sometimes takes you out of the picture. Jack Benny would have been the perfect choice, since his radio and screen persona would have fitted this character to a tee, always being uptight anyway and scared of everything.

However, I see the reasoning in casting Cary Grant, since he was undoubtedly a bigger box office draw and they wanted a big star.

(As Capra explains in his autobiography, instead of being the nest-egg to see his family through during his war service, the taxes on the expected earnings on the movie [it wasn't released for three years] almost wiped him out.)